During halftime of Game 4 between the Nets and Bulls, a writer for the Chicago Sun-Times said that the Bulls privately consider the Nets "gutless" and "heartless."
Them's some strong words, as the saying goes.
But in an interview with the New York Post, Deron Williams said that after P.J. Carlesimo showed them the video, the Nets were kind of like "eh." They were mostly trying to avoid shame.
Interim coach P.J. Carlesimo showed his players the interview prior to their 110-91 win back in Brooklyn in Game 5 last night. But if it was supposed to fire the Nets up, that’s not exactly how Deron Williams said the team took it.
“We didn’t need that,” Williams said after scoring 23 points and dishing out 10 assists. “That’s not why [we won]. P.J. wanted us to watch it, and we were sitting in there after it was over like, ‘That’s it?’ What are we supposed to do now? [Yell] we’re mad?’
“That stuff doesn’t mean anything. We wanted to win the game for us and for our fans and for a chance to extend our season. We didn’t want to go fishing. We didn’t want to be on TNT with the hats on, and Chuck talking about it.”
via Nets notes: Nets don’t need motivation for victory over Bulls in Game 5 - NYPOST.com.
So the Nets are primarily motivated by wanting to not be on a television show in which purposefully sloppy photoshops commemorate their departure into the deep blue offseason. Got it.
Couldn't Williams have said, "We wanted to win because we can win this series."? Or even, "Coach is right. We wanted to show them something."? You'd be a.) throwing Carlesimo a bone even if you and your teammates don't care, and b.) seem like you're playing for pride rather than to avoid something.
I get the approach that Williams is taking, which is, "We don't care about anything they say." But that approach should only work until they're said to consider you gutless. At that point, it's about pride, not avoiding a spot with Chuck and Kenny. Even the phrase "a chance to extend our season" is pretty soft.
The Nets are still in this series, especially after winning Game 5. But comments like this do make you question their resolve, especially coming from their leader.
